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Misguided Intentions within OG Disney Channel DNA (Camp Rock 3 review)

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  If anyone had asked 10 years ago whether a Camp Rock sequel would ever happen, I would have said it wouldn't be right to make another without Demi Lovato or the Jonas Brothers, despite their personal relationships with each other and with Disney. Now, 19 years since the movie that spawned cringe-worthy memes and made Lovato the superstar she is now, she returns WITH the Jonas Brothers to produce an all-new generation of the franchise.  Camp Rock 3 now focuses on new characters attending the iconic camp and finding themselves in an opportunity to be Connect 3's (The literal fictional equivalent of the Jonas Brothers, if anyone forgot) new opening act. This Disney Channel sequel closely follows the original film's familiar plot structure, from its musical elements to the Final Jam, which serves as a turning point for these characters to fully realize themselves in their subsequent arcs and learn lessons along the way. Liamani Segura, who plays the main role as Sage, is a s...

How Do You Help A Lonely Spider Man? (Spider Man Brand New Day review)

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  Yes, we get a whole month with not only Tom Holland but also Zendaya and Jon Bernthal in the fourth (yes, we are making waves here) Spider-Man sequel. This has been a long time coming, as Marvel and Sony's once rocky but stable relationship would follow up on the event that was Spider-Man: No Way Home , which brought back past Spider-Man actors to interact in a Multiverse-esque adventure. Luckily, Tom Holland returns as the iconic webslinger in an all-new chapter of his life and hopefully for the MCU as well.  Spider-Man: Brand New Day is set 4 years after No Way Home , where Peter Parker is very much alone after the spell made by Doctor Strange to have everyone, including his loved ones, forget who he is. At the height of being the comic-accurate friendly neighborhood superhero ways, some very critical fans of this iteration of the character will also be pleased that Peter Parker is indeed very depressed and very broke. When faced with a mysterious threat, Peter is also go...

The Realist's Take On The Original Adventure (The Odyssey review)

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  The phenomenon is here. The movie everyone has been waiting for (maybe some people aren't), by the world-acclaimed director Christopher Nolan, returns with his latest feature, The Odyssey , adapting one of the oldest epic poems to the big screen. There has been a lot of talk around this movie, from its use of IMAX cameras to its overall tone to the ethnically blind casting and whether it was meant to be watched on the big screen, as Nolan intended.  The Odyssey , if anyone isn't aware yet, tells the tale of Odysseus's attempts to return home with his crew after the siege of Troy, an event also recounted in another of Homer's epics, The Iliad, which is set during the Trojan War. As they return, they face various obstacles rooted in Greek mythology. With a more realistic take that leans into realism, Nolan depicts what I personally consider fantasy as something that might have occurred in history, rather than even questioning the involvement of the gods and the magic th...

Enola Sparks Blend Between Colonization and Feminism (Enola Holmes 3 review)

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  She's back! Enola Holmes returns in this all-new sequel to one of Netflix's most successful franchises, which also features Millie Bobby Brown. With most of the main cast returning and the plot set entirely in Malta, this threequel sees Enola now marrying Louise Partridge's Tewksbury, the slow-burn budding romance the franchise had been building towards. Unaware of how much they are adapting from Nancy Springer's book series, does this new installment live up to the expectations set by its well-received predecessors?  Enola is facing her greatest challenge yet. Marriage! And that is ultimately compounded by the disappearance of her more famous sibling, Sherlock Holmes. But boy, does the script immediately try to get to its point: not to spend time in Victorian London, but in Malta. The film has a considerably shorter runtime than the previous films, which I immediately found suspicious, and I later learned that they changed directors, which seemed to answer some of th...

Yes! I Liked Off Campus (Full Season 1 Review)

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  After The Summer I Turned Pretty ended, it seems Amazon Prime was banking on another romance hit for their streaming service, and they have found it. The Off Campus phenomenon is what everyone is talking about. Authored by Elle Kennedy, this first season adapts the first book, focusing on the fake-relationship trope between Hannah, an aspiring composer, and Garrett, the star hockey player on the college team.  Personally, the idea of this show did not appeal to me. From the outside perspective, it was another scandalous, almost trashy romance show that seemed to make a relationship unnecessarily messy to make the plot interesting. Based on that sentiment, it seemed that Off Campus was also capitalizing on the more problematic aspects of romance outlets that have been exciting audiences today.  However, I finally tuned in to the show a month after its release, and it does prove itself not only entertaining but also offering real, healthy ways of approaching several of ...

The Loosely Adapted Woman Of Tomorrow (Supergirl 2026 review)

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  James Gunn continues to build a new and improved DC universe, especially after the success of Superman . Seemingly continuing to build the super family first, he now brings Supergirl to the screen after teasing her at the end of the David Corenswet-led  Superman , with expectations that it will specifically adapt the " Woman of Tomorrow " version of the character from the famous Tom King comic book miniseries. Was bringing Supergirl to the fold of a very fragile restart of the DC universe going to excite audiences enough to watch this?  Supergirl , like I said, is adapting an iteration of the character that proved to be a bold take on the Girl of Steel and has grown into one of the most iconic comic book series of all time. Director Craig Gillespie and up-and-coming screenwriter Ana Nogueira are very loosely inspired by the source material, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. Fans of the comic book can go either way, seeing a new iteration of that alr...

Mature Approach To A Changing World (Toy Story 5 review)

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  It has been 30 years since Pixar began gracing our screens with some of the best animation and created the Toy Story Franchise. We all thought they would have ended the franchise with the third one back in 2010. But then came another, which seemed to have surprised the general public with how relevant the sequel would be, and if we really needed it, and it went on to make a billion dollars. Similar discourse occurred when it was announced there would be a fifth.  The fifth entry features a more timely conversation with our iconic, lifelike toys as they face their greatest threat yet: technology. When Bonnie is handed her first Lilypad (basically an iPad to avoid trademark issues), will she want to play with toys again? With that at hand, there seems to be a random storyline of Buzz Lightyear toys roaming around to find... purpose? That's all I'll say about the sequel without giving anything away.  But this sequel, formidably, is much better than the fourth, even though ...